This invention relates to packaging and is more particularly concerned with improvements in carrier packages for an assembly or group of articles in the form of bottles which are secured in grouped arrangement by means of a cap gripping plastic shroud or plastic shrink wrap and is more particularly concerned with an improved arrangement in which there is incorporated in the package a promotional card insert of paperboard or similar foldable sheet material.
In a recently developed packaging arrangement for marketing a group of so-called stubby type beverage bottles the bottles are disposed in double line and transversely paired relation and a plastic shroud having a top panel, with openings for the bottle necks and depending peripherial sidewall portions, is forced down over the tops of the bottles and into relatively tight engagement with top portions of the bottles, the sidewall portions being molded or shaped in part to conform to portions of the bottles at the outside periphery of the group and the bottom margin of the shroud being in part in the form of a relatively narrow band which is of generally rectangular configuration with rounded corners which encircle in part the bottles at the four corners of the group. In another arrangement of like character the bottles are retained in group arrangement by a shroud or bonnet of somewhat different construction. In this form portions of the top panel and the depending side wall portions are cut away in part leaving relatively large apertures and providing a top gripping bonnet having the appearance of a lattice work, which enables large portions of the bottom tops to be observed without disturbing the bonnet. In still another form of the bottle package the group of bottles are positioned in a length of plastic tubing or a plastic sheet or strip is wrapped completely around the top, bottom and sides of the group with its ends secured and thereafter the plastic is heat shrunk to tightly enclose the bottles. In some packages of this type it has been found desirable to first place over the top of the assembly of bottles a paperboard cover preferably with finger gripping holes shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,747,749 dated July 24, 1973.
While the shroud or wrapper in this type package is wholly or partially transparent it may cover a goodly portion of the areas of the bottles normally visible to the customer and reduces the areas available for product identification, advertising and promotional material which, as a practical matter, cannot be incorporated in the shroud or wrapper itself in a satisfactory manner. Consequently, there has developed a desire, on the part of the bottlers and others involved in the marketing of bottled products, for an inexpensive addition to the package to provide for advertising or promotional material so as to enable the package to be made more competitive with other bottle packaging arrangements.